Thoughtful Moments

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 4, 7 September 1945, Page 2

Thoughtful Moments

{Supplied the rvs* Associstioft) •

FRACTIONS OF MEN By Rev. G. B. F. Hallock, D.D. Some Christians are too religious to enjoy sin and too .sinful to enjoy religion. This is a very unhappy state, to be in. This half-and-half religion is about as bad as no leligion and gives false witness against Christ,

I have read that among-the many] brilliant—and otherwise —plans to encourage/recruiting, the War Department was recently asked by a young man for permission to walk the streets in a patent .suit oil clothes in his own design. The suit presents a half-and-half effect. It is so made that if you look at' the wearer from the right side lie appears as a khaki clad private of infantry but looking at him from the left the astonished spectator sees an effeminately clad civilian wearing a monocle and a straw hat. As reported in the Official Bulletin "the front view of this apparition is that of a man cut into ill-imatched halves right side, hero; left side ? tango lizard." A placard to go with this ma'ke.up bears the "Don't Be Half a Man." The idea may be decidedly bizarre, but the truth suggested is one that many persons need to learn. By all means avoid being a hall-and j half man.

Be a whole man for Christ. Bear whole-hearted life witness- for Christ. Christians seem to wish to walk as. near the line between right and wrong as ever they can just so they don't go clear over on the wrong side. Like some trees ? they stand on the right .side of the fence, but they lean a little over ? and when they fall they are sure to fall the wrong way. It is a very bad .sign; when you hear Christians asking for little rules for duty: May T do this? and may I do that? loyal devotion doesn't need rules to define "fine points" between right and wrong. It is always bondage when we serve Christ because we must!. It is the highest liberty when we serve him because we will; because we love him and really wish to do what will please him. It is not hard

OUR SUNDAY MESSAGE

to do the wishes of one we love. A first class* American capitalist once said. "1 am nb 10 per cent, man." He was bidding for a fullorbed career. Toaay we hear much of gathering lip the fragments and we arc beginning to discover the extent of our previous waste- It is well to study the matter in its. higher relations. To save food is really to preserve life in the last analysis. The care with which wounded men are nursed back to life is wonderful. Our ambulances bring shattered bodies to the hospitals where skilled surgeons and nurses ?ave lives otherwise "thrown as rubbish to the void." After convalescence the. aim is to rebuild an industrial unit from the to readjust a one-armed compositor to his trade requirements, a one-leg-ged athlete to a new race in which his- handicap is not prohibitive. Oneeyed and even the totally blind are taught basket weaving. What a spur to prick the sides of my intent as I examine my physical equipment. How much of a man am I physically? How much do 1 really amount to in the community as a religious entity? If 1 am only three-fourths of a man I should be humble and stand awed as the Master asks "Wilt those be made whole?" Jesus wants to clothe us with completeness. The benefit of coming to Him is that He reveals our lack and is able to supply our spiritual deficiencies? too. Every faithful paste; has to deal with remnants —pitiful fragments —pathetic souvenirs of "happier days," He rejoices when they report for renewed equipment and refuse to take the Church for a museum of mummified and enter it as a school, a a garden where a lioning fragment works 'and in action waits, too, for "all the fullness, of God." Can you report progress.—three-fifths to three-fourths, or seven-eighths to nine-tenths? How much of a man ) a Christian man are you? Let us not forget that Christ does not call for half-and-half men, or fractions of men. He calls for whole men in His service—men &trong j and and brave, who will give a whole man's part in His service.